How Is NYC Affordable For Analysts?
Incoming FT at EB here and I ran the numbers through my head... and it's not making sense. How is anyone living in NYC without drowning in debt?
Assume you're earning top bucket as an Analyst = 200k/yr = 138k/yr after taxes. That's $11.5k/month. Sounds good right?
But then add, per month:
- 3k/month in rent
- 3k/month in food (yes this is reasonable, $100/day for 3 meals, most days is less but the occassional date / bar night will bump it up)
- 1.5k/month in misc (subscriptions, haircuts, gym, random Amazon stuff, maybe save a bit every month for a new pair of shoes)
- $750/month in travel (Ubers, transit, seems like a lot but its only $25/day)
That's $8250/month. So you're barely saving $3k/month?
But also, what the hell, your bonus isn't paid till EOY. So your monthly take home on a $120k base is actually $10k/month = $7k/month post-tax.
So you're negative $1250? How are people doing this???
You obviously grew up wealthy. Maybe dont take any Ubers? Don’t live in the west village? Go to a normal gym and not equinox? Don’t spend $30/meal?
Agreed, live a bit cheaper haha. I think 2k max per month on food, and 1k max on misc
Yeah this budget is pretty wild lol.
$3k in rent? Get some roommates
$100/day in food? I can usually use my dinner stipend to buy lunch for the next day
What? You can't get a studio for less than 3k anywhere in Manhattan. Living in the city is a non negotiable as you'd implicity waste more money commuting from the island / Jersey (+ time + energy + your performance on the job).
2 beds start at $5k, so with a roommate its still $2.5k/each, plus utilities.
Even if you reduced food by half to $1.5k you're still basically net zero until your bonus hits at the end of the year.
Feels like more people are bankrolled by Bank of M&D than they'd like to admit, because these numbers don't make any sense for someone starting from scratch with nothing (or negative if incl. student loan payments).
Ha didnt grow up wealthly, but trying to make it 🤞
Would be hard pressed to find clean, healthy food for under $30/meal but again its an average. Most meals could be ~$20, and then one night out with your coworkers or a date and your budget is blown up.
Chicken breast from Trader Joe’s and white rice with broccoli is not expensive. Chipotle catering cost $167 to feed 10 people but I’ve easily made it stretch two weeks worth of dinner with effectively freezing. Buy 1-2 drinks for a girl only on Saturday or Friday. Learn how to budget.
You have a food credit in the evenings for work, and of course will spend money on the occassional meal out, but for the rest of your meals you can easily eat healthy, while balling, spending like $150 a week at Whole Foods. That's roughly $675 after a month, and still very below your $3k a month food budget lmao.
You fundamentally do not understand how meal structuring works in the world of IB, big law, and other high finance positions. If you are working through dinner your frim picks up the tab. So that alone cuts your food budget in half.
Not to mention, who the fuck takes an uber every day? If you are spending 3K per month on rent with a room mate in Manhattan you better be on a subway route or walking distance from your office. Hell you can get in from LIC in Queens in less than 12 min with a walk/subway from there you can be at most major bank offices within 10 - 15 min so door to door you are looking at prob 35 min.
You don’t save much of base but can hopefully max Roth + bank bonus.
It is not worth it at all lmao. Hourly pay is shit and your after tax net income is higher if you do a $90k job in Nashville.
Not arguing but genuinely curious because I haven’t run the numbers myself on an actually accurate COL adjustment. All the COL calculators online seem inaccurate. Is the differential in rent cost + taxes + going out that much versus decent other mid-size cities Like Nashville or even a more adjacent level city like Chicago?
Good question, I asked ChatGPT to rank some cities based on taxes + basic rent, that's a good enough proxy, and damn lol...
Rent cost is like 125% higher for same quality of unit (but practically ends up like 50% higher because you just end up settling for a much shittier apartment/roommates)
Taxes are like 5-10% higher
Going out is 20-30% more expensive.
You really don’t make real money until you’re an associate in banking.
How many 90k a year jobs are in Nashville? Also your income won't scale. Nashville also is expensive af. I've lived in the NYC metro my entire life and was getting extreme sticker shock in Nashville.
Alot more than you think.
Bc no one normal actually lives like that unless you’re really bad with money?
I pay 2.2k a month in Murray Hill for 1 room in a 2 bedroom. The minimum of 2.5k per person is only if you’re in a luxury building. My building is nice and I have no complaints.
Average daily spend on weekdays is $25 (dinner paid for by firm & I buy lunch & coffee). Comes out to $500/month
Average weekend spending per day is $60-150. Comes out to $800/month
Total spending is $3500/month. Even after contributing 15% to 401k & taxes, have about $1500 left over which I use for gym, travel savings, pay for a pickup/delivery wash & fold service, purchases, etc. When I was still building my emergency fund, some of this left over went to that.
And I still have my entire bonus to do whatever I want with! Usually put 1/3 of it to long term savings (eventual down payment), and rest to travel and do whatever I want with.
You should really just think about the yearly effects of some of your budget. A 5k 2 bedroom vs 3k studio - almost guaranteed the 2bdrm is way nicer and in a better neighborhood. And it’s literally 6k that you’re saving over the course of a year by going with it (3k-2.5k * 12 months), which is also probably what the difference in a low bucket to mid bucket bonus is after taxes.
Agree with most but you may neee a reality check on rent.
With inflation, price surges in the summer, and the new FARE act it’s pretty tough to get anything decent under 2.5 even with multiple roommates.
Went on StreetEasy today and I'd have to disagree with this. The prices that I saw are even lower than the period when I was doing apartment hunting. There are even more decent places for less than $2.5k/month than before lol and I am constantly seeing modern/luxury apartments for $5k/2 bedroom in prime areas like Hudson Yards, Chelsea, etc. I was shocked ngl
This is the Manhattan may 2025 rent report : https://www.mns.com/manhattan_rental_market_report. Seems like 2.1-2.2k rent is reasonable for no doorman buildings, comes out to 2.2-2.3k with utilities, so your on the money there I think. The may numbers are pre-FARE act so might see a 5-10% increase as new listings come out (a lot of current street easy ones remain pre-FARE act listings so not complete 1:1 comparisons). Really wrong about the luxury apartment/doorman buildings for 2 bedrooms though, but perhaps the mean is skewed by really nice places. Anecdotally, think the semi nice places in NYC are either bidding wars that go up to $2400 or $2500 for each roommate, are listed as $5000+, or simply are functionally $5000+ (a place that's $4800 a month but brokers fee is actually $5000+ in real amount paid for your first year lease).
Ya this OP post is garbage. Came into the IB NYC stint thinking I'd be lucky to break-even every month. Now happily saving a little under 1k per month, with plenty of money to do whatever I want to do on weekends, save for travel, etc. Not a huge spender, but regardless your early 20s isn't about saving money anyways...
Exactly, your 20s are for pulling 80 hour work weeks
Bro i legit spend about 30 dollars each day in food what are you doing eating raw squid covered in gold?
I also eat raw squid covered in gold and I'm at $70-$110 per day no joke food and eating out.
The key is not spending money on dates or a girlfriend
The rent isn't completely outrageous. I'm surprised more people aren't calling out the casual $100/day in food and "travel" while working in a field with dinner stipends and night Ubers.
This post reeks of an out of touch, nepo baby realizing daddy’s money won’t sustain his luxurious lifestyle as easily as it got him his IB offer. Womp womp
Lol, I'm from a random non target in Canada. Made it to an EB myself. But keep writing fan fiction.
If you're smart enough to get a banking role without nepo connections, you're smart enough to realize that 1) you shouldn't be spending $3k a month on rent (get roommates) and 2) 1.5k on "gym, Amazon, miscellaneous" is a joke. Skip the Gucci loafers and bump that down to $500/month. This is all without even confronting the ridiculous food spend figure. Hope this helps!
$100 a day on food when literally all food and drink costs are expensed during the week bar lunch bro is going to nobu for lunch everyday
Least obvious"I'm a rich kid" rage bait
You will not be spending $100/day on food. More like $10 on breakfast (this is generous, most analysts I know don’t really eat a real breakfast), $15-20 on lunch and then you will expense and eat almost every dinner at your desk Monday-Friday.
Most of the big banks in NYC also have very nice gyms in their buildings and the rates are based off of your position (I.e. analysts pay the lowest rate, maybe $100 or less a month, I can’t remember but it’s definitely not $300+ like equinox). You will not have time to actually enjoy all of the amenities of an Equinox or Lifetime during your first year on the desk, so just go with the gym in the building.
Depending on the bank/group, Sundays can be a full work day especially for first year analysts. So you won’t have much time to blow money.
Your only real time to blow money will be late Friday nights if you aren’t too tired to go out after you log off in the late evening. And saturdays.
Once you are done with your first year, you will have a little bit more free time to spend money.
Also, it’s not mentioned that much, but a lot of analysts have their parents paying a good portion of their rent. It’s quite common amongst the internationals.
Hi OP - as others have said, with respect I think you’re being somewhat unrealistic with your budgeting. Now I admittedly do agree somewhat on things like housing costs (see my recent post here about IB returns/standard of living declining - www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/investment-banking/a-reminder-were-lucky-…) - however in your early 20s sharing an apartment shouldn’t be an issue.
I think the issue is that (and no offence meant this) you either grew up wealthy, and/or had unrealistic expectations of the standard of living you’d get in IB, especially as an analyst. You are sadly not going to be living some crazy model and bottles lifestyle - maybe that was possible in the 2000s/early 2010s but those days are long gone.
However honestly in your early 20s the money in IB is still really good (especially compared to your peers graduating college). Yes rents are ridiculous and it’s a joke you have to rent a room rather than living alone - but otherwise you basically have huge amounts of spending within reason (emphasis on within reason). And if you’re struggling to budget now, I’ve got bad news for you - it’s only going to get worse. Wait till you’re earning $300k but now have a kid to look after. And have more free time to enjoy yourself which costs more money (honestly as an analyst you’re going to be pretty busy with work anyway).
Good luck OP, and make a budget! But sorry to say, if you thought becoming an analyst in IB would give you the same lifestyle as boomers who now live in $2m houses through working generic corporate jobs paying $200k a year (bought for much less) - that’s not going to be the case sadly.
There r so many places less than 3k a month
Do you even actually live in Manhattan? Lol
Yes I’m happy it made u lol tho. Most people I know r less than 2500
Yo this kid lied about his GPA (>0.3). Don't give him the time of day
bro is jealous I made it
In a rising interest rate, low growth, inflationary economy? Absolutely not. Joke is on you. Banking is a beta profession going forward and will be phased out by AI in the next 2-5 years. Nice try, though, king!
As a first year, I paid $3k/month in rent, and also had an equinox membership. Spent ~$70 per week in groceries for food Monday-Thursday since company paid for dinner. Didn’t go out a ton because I was either working or too exhausted from work. Basically spent all base and saved 100% of bonus
How much is the bonus?
Realistically, every analyst that doesn’t have wealthy parents lives with a roommate, associates too. So the rent figure is substantially lower. Most banks will also pay for your uber ride home every night and give you a dinner stipend bc we all know analysts will be working past the evening cutoff.
It is true though that in order to live by yourself in a non studio apartment in a nice neighborhood in Manhattan, you will need to have parents paying for it. Which does happen a lot, especially from my undergrad, and might be why OP has a skewed perception of how someone is supposed to live in nyc. You are not living alone as an analyst in Manhattan on your own salary.
This contradicts directly what is being said about there being "a ton of studio options avaliable under 3K"...which is it?
Yes there are tons of options available under 3k unless you actively look for certain neighbourhoods. Some people for example wouldn't mind living in Yorkville or anywhere on the east side of UES which they can cheapen their rent a lot
I specifically used the verbiage “nice neighborhood in Manhattan” in my post meaning non Hell’s Kitchen, Alphabet City, Harlem etc. and obviously not the other boroughs. It’s possible to find a $3k studio in those areas
Yeah thanks, that basically sums up my misconceptions. I'm just surprised to learn we got to live the same way as college as adults. I thought the 24, 25yr old Associates at least have their own personal lives, but from what I'm seeing in this thread, they still have roommates. It's just kind of insane to me but I guess it is what it is.
Yeah that's the reality of living in a HCOL city like New York or SF unfortunately. Many of the associates I know who don't come from money are still living with roommates or have a gf who also works that they split rent with. I heard it's possible to live by yourself in LIC, but you're not in Manhattan at that point.
3K per month in food is ridiculous.
Most of us are winners in real life, but also had winners for parents and date or marry other winners.
Meaning there’s more than enough money to go around via your salary, significant others salary and family help.
Sounds like you had lazy parents who didn’t save or are single or are dating a poor person. So time to start living beneath your means for awhile.
That means no Ubers, no gyms, live with other poor roomates and only takes dates on free activities like walks in the park.
What’s so hard to understand Truman?
Why would dating help are u retarded that’s another mouth to feed even if she earns that’s another mouth breh
Jesus how dumb have the kids on here become? Dating a rich chick would hurt you financially? Ok genius.
Holy judgemental. Relax. I come from a middle class family and my parents were "lazy" enough to keep a roof above my head. It's my turn to give back, not keep leaching. Congrats on your "winner" parents though.
I tend to think that NYC is definitely overpriced but manageable if you are in good health and have good spending habits. OP needs to adjust his spending habits because you never know what will happen. You need to save money to avoid going BK.
Let’s say you tear your ACL as an analyst or you have any sort of bump in the road (i.e., having to leave your job without income) that $2200 - $3000 in rent becomes astronomical. Additionally, let’s say you cannot walk and start to rack up fees from Uber eats and other deliveries, you’re going to have a lot of problems. Also, healthcare in NYC is a disaster and it’s so hard to find the right doctor and there are often significant wait lists for all doctors. Not only this, healthcare is super expensive.
I’d highly recommend any young adult to save up like 6 - 12 months rent in NYC and to thoroughly review disability and unemployment insurance to ensure they don’t get stuck in a shitty situation. Also learn about COBRA so you’re not left uncovered during a period of prolonged unemployment.
What does a monthly metrocard run you? 135/mo these days? That's 600/mo in savings. Not everyone needs to spend $1,500/mo in random subscriptions or buying (checks math) 12 pairs of sneakers a year. Maybe you spend $500/mo on this stuff.
Also, don't you get a meal allowance like 5 nights a week? 25 bucks a night saves you ~$500/mo. We just found you $2,000/mo in savings.
Then we get to the other stuff. Maybe live with a roommate, and not in an expensive downtown condo? Live in Prospect Heights with a roomie, save yourself another 400-500 bucks a month.
Suddenly, once you decide to not toss money away on every possible luxury or convenience imaginable, you've managed to save an additional 20-25% of your salary. Amazing.
You are a 22 year old analyst. You aren't supposed to be living in a spacious Tribeca loft and taking a limo to work every day
Telling an incoming EB analyst to live in Brooklyn??!?
Can you claim to work for an EB if you can't afford to live in Manhattan?
Just suck it up for 3 years then move alone it’s the tried and true path
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